Last night’s GoodGym Nottingham task was meant to see us helping at the Meadows Foodbank. However, for the second week running, a last-minute change of plan was needed, this time due to illness (get well soon Mark!).

Luckily, Leah had a stash of purple bags and gloves in her car, so not to be defeated again, we quickly switched gears and turned our attention to litter picking around the local area. As there were so many of us, we split into two groups and collectively managed to fill 4 bags of litter which had been lurking amongst the fallen leaves – impressive given how clean and tidy the area actually looked and that some of us were wheeling bikes around whilst picking!

It may not have been the task we originally planned, but we still got out, got moving and made a difference. Thanks to everyone who came for being so adaptable, and we will hopefully reschedule our visit to the Foodbank for a future week.

A big welcome to Georgie who joined us for the first time!

Next week we will be at the Brandon Lawerence Sports Centre – sign up here.

Five GoodGym Nottingham volunteers headed out for a special evening that combined two very different Nottingham traditions: litter picking and Goose Fair!

After meeting up in Carrington, Leah, Florence, Tim, Walter and Rachel worked their way around the local streets filling a whole bag of litter on the way. Good deed done, it was time for a well-earned reward...a trip to one of Nottingham’s most iconic nights out!

The group made their way to Forest Rec where the bright lights, terrifying-looking rides and enormous soft toys of Goose Fair were waiting. The first priority was refuelling with some tasty fairground food. Leah and Tim decided to try out the infamous Goose Fair mushy peas – as you can see from the photo, Leah seemed more sold than Tim! Afterwards, the group wandered around taking in the sights and sounds, ruling out any desire to try any ride that involved spinning wildly in the air or a stomach-churning drop.

After waving goodbye to Tim, the rest of the group decided that the Ferris wheel would be a suitable activity worthy of our time and money. As the wheel climbed higher, the group got a bird’s-eye view of the dazzling rides below, with Goose Fair glowing in all its colourful glory. And to make the evening even more spectacular, a huge, beautiful moon appeared to be hovering in the distance over the fairground (the photos don’t do it justice).

From filling a bag with litter to floating above the lights of Goose Fair, it was a brilliant evening of community, teamwork and a little bit of fun.

The weather was most definitely against us last night!

We've been working on the railings at the ICCA on Hucknall Road since January and somehow May is the first time we've had to cancel due to rain.

Luckily we've got a boot full of litter pickers, hi-vis and bin bags so we decided to take a pass of the Pirates Park and churchyard. Lots of soggy tissues and bits of paper, but nothing too exciting.

Afterwards we reconvened at The Gladstone pub for a swift half and to prepare Rachel and Peter for their talk at the Kendal Mountain Tour next week. You can get one of the last remaining tickets for 20% off with the voucher code "ADVENTURE20".

We teamed up with the Nottingham Clean Champions as part of the Great British Spring Clean.

Armed with a new set of litter pickers provided by the Council team, we split up and covered quite a big area following the side streets off Hucknall Road.

Matt was, as always, highly committed to getting every last piece of rubbish (check out the pics) and I think gets to claim victory in the "weirdest find" competition for the bra and some, err, questionable-looking spray cans. Hopefully Volume 2 of the mix CD we found was better received than Volume 1 presumably was.

Welcome to Shauna and Annie who joined us for their first tasks!

With January coming to an end, GoodGym Nottingham squeezed in one final task, our second in two days! Our original plan was to be inside at the Sherwood Community Centre, but we had to postpone this due to illness. Instead, we took to the streets of Sherwood to do a spot of litter picking.

Leah, Matt, Rachel and first-timer, Caroline, spent the hour tidying up the litter outside the shops along both sides of Mansfield Road. There were no significant finds, other than what looked like the back of a wing mirror from a bus. Nevertheless, the team filled two bags and left feeling satisfied that the area was looking a little less littery than when they started.

The week’s doubleheader means that GoodGym Nottingham has smashed its January Challenge total with 42 individual good deeds this month. We kick off next month with a new task at the ICCA in Nottingham. Sign up here.

A Happy New Year from GoodGym Nottingham who met for their first task of the year yesterday. Unfortunately, our planned indoor task had been cancelled due to illness, but not to be deterred or put off by the chilly weather, we decided to meet for a spot of litter picking around the Carrington area of Nottingham.

We met at the Carrington Community Garden where we did several tasks in the summer. It was fully dark and not much above freezing, and it seemed impossible to believe that we were there at the same time, in daylight, and sweating buckets in shorts and vests just a few months ago!

After a quick sweep of the Community Garden itself, we split into two groups and headed off to see what we could find to fill our purple bags before the cold got the better of our fingers and toes. Peter, Tom and Nigel went in the direction of the Pirates Park and St John’s churchyard, whilst Leah, Florence, Khiltee, Matt and Rachel ventured towards the underpass and shops at Carrington. We managed to fill four bags of litter overall, including Matt’s best find of a military style hat complete with badge.

We could have definitely carried on picking had we not started to freeze a little and had we also not agreed to reconvene after 45 minutes to head to the pub (a little reward for our efforts). After a quick photo, we waved goodbye to Nigel and the rest of us popped into the local for a cheeky drink to welcome in 2026 and to debate the pros and cons (?) of having a birthday on 31st December – happy belated birthday to Matt!